apple, cinnamon and browned butter cake

             
               I never wanted to post iPhone photos here, but the cake is so good I just couldn't keep myself from sharing the recipe, and recipes without illustration never appeal to me: hence, very bad quality of shots (second thought: which are not too appealing either, but I don't even have access to Photoshop at the moment) and a very good, very easy cake to make. Maybe even now. While listening to Joni Mitchell.

Apple, cinnamon and browned butter cake:
(slightly adapted from White Plate)

Ingredients:
2 large apples
4 eggs
120g butter
120ml milk
150g sugar
1 pack sugar with real vanilla (or an equivalent)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
200g flour
+ 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon for topping

Instructions:

1. Peel and core the apples, slice them thinly. Set aside. Preheat oven to 150*C. Line a 20cm round tin with baking paper, butter it so the cake doesn't stick. Set aside.

2. Make the butter: melt it on medium low heat until foamy. Then, lower the heat a little and keep on cooking until tiny browny pieces form on the bottom of the pot, mixing from time to time. Browned butter will smell very nutty and sweet. If this seems too compliacated or too fussy (it takes roughly 10 minutes and a pot that's hard to clean), you can always skip that part and just melt the butter until liquid and in its regular color and go straight to point 3. But I think it's worth the additional effort!

3. Mix eggs with sugar until frothy. Slowly add in butter and milk.

4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and vanilla sugar. Add to egg mixture.

5. Pour the batter into the tin. Lay out apple slices so they cover the batter completely; it should look like an apple mosaic. The centre is tricky but here's help: sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top to a) cover lack of skills b) add amazing crust and cinnamon-y flavor that makes life so much better.

6. Bake for 60-70 minutes, but test with a toothpick before taking out. Let stand for some 15 minutes in an open, turned-off but still warn oven. We ate it warm. It was delicious. I think it could benefit from vanilla ice cream on the side, but tea was perfect nevertheless.

Have a nice evening!